Jeremy Langford

Jeremy Langford

Jeremy Langford (born London, England, 1956), British/Israeli glass designer and sculptor

His family's original name was Lelyveld, natives of the Netherlands, and Langford is related to Joseph Lelyveld, an editor of "The New York Times", and to civil rights activist Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld. Jeremy Langford’s great grandfather was a royal court entertainer in the U.K. (specializing in whistling), serving the court of King Edward VII and, after whose death, opened the soap factory Sloman’s. Langford’s father, Barry Langford (b. London, England, 1926) was the BBC producer and director who created the first pop-music shows for the network and directed many, including The Tom Jones Show. He also worked with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones discovered David Bowie and briefly managed Deep Purple

Biography

Jeremy Langford moved from Great Britain to Melbourne, Australia, when he was 13, and began dabbling in glass when he was 15. At first, he melted bottles in an old ceramic kiln creating from the raw material his first stained glass works.At 18, he returned to the U.K. to study at The London Film School and met a traditional English glass artist who taught him glassmaking techniques and, thus, acquired the foundation for his future work. At this time he also studied naturopathic medicine and Jewish mysticism and later homeopathy.

But his primary predilection was for glass. Evidently his diverse background supported his becoming an accomplished glass artist, in fact today being called “the king of glass.” According to him, “Just as a musician trains in classical music, he can then diversify and enter any musical field—even heavy rock. I feel that, with such a training in traditional glassmaking techniques, I can stretch the limits and even go wildly off the established path of traditional glass working.”

With a studio in London in the mid-1970s, he divided his time between the U.K. and Israel and continued developing his glass making skills. It was at this time he first started experimenting in stacked sculptural glass, a skill he honed to perfection over the last few years in some of his monumental glass sculptures around the world.

He married Yael Langford (née Itach), a scientist specializing in quantum chemistry, today concentrating on the relationship of brainwaves and consciousness. Langford and his wife are active on a beta project concerning the connection between art, brainwaves and consciousness.

He is currently working on projects in various U.S. cities. They include three monumental sculptures in the The Trump International Towers at Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, and a sculpture in the Miami Four Seasons Hotel.

His glass work that calls on more than 30 techniques is to be included in a Holocaust Memorial in Beverly Hills, California, and a number of residences in Los Angeles and New York City. Other work has been installed in numerous synagogues.

Langford’s best-known project is the 2006 large collection of glass sculptures that documents the history of the Jewish people from Biblical times until the present. The project, which recently received the prestigious THEA award from the Disney Company, extends down into the catacombs at the edge of the Kotel (or Western Wall) in Jerusalem. The vast project, funded by media magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, features uniquely carved and etched layers of plate glass. When archeologists were excavating the space for the Langford installation, they first discovered a fully preserved ritual bath from the Second Temple period, located beneath the Roman-times level. They then discovered a portion of a Wall from the First Temple (or the Solomon's Temple), completed in about 950 BCE but destroyed by the Babylonians approximately 360 years later. On the connection between his art and spirituality, Langford compares the physical material of glass to the state of seeking a spiritual dimension. “As alchemists symbolically sought to change a base metal into a precious material—gold—so working in glass mirrors this process. Glass starts as sand, a lifeless substance. Through a process of heat and pressure, it becomes a bright, light-transmitting, elastic material—transparent but with defined boundaries and borders.”

Works

Projects are included in:
* Supreme Court Building, Jerusalem
* Residence of the President of Israel, Jerusalem
* Western Wall Tunnels, Old City, Jerusalem
* Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
* Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv
* British Museum, London
* Hilton Hotel, Mayfair, London
* Los Angeles Etz Haim Congregation, Los Angeles
* Trump International Towers, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
* Four Seasons Hotel, Miami

Bibliography

* Mel Byars, “A Letter from Jerusalem: The Chain of Generations,” " Art+Auction", February 2006.
* Jeremy Langford, “Chambers of History,” ‘’Faith & Form, The Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art and Architecture’’, vol. 39, no. 2, 2006. | ISBN 00147001
* “The New Chain of Generations in Jerusalem,” ‘’Neue Glas/New Glass’’, summer 2006 (2/06). USPS no. 011-475
* “Commissions: Jeremy Langford, the Western Wall Glass Sculpture Project, Jerusalem, Israel,” ‘’Sculpture’’, vol. 25, no. 7, September 2006.

External links

* [http://www.jeremylangford.com Jeremy Langford's Website]
* [http://english.thekotel.org/content.asp?Id=264 The Western Wall Glass Sculpture Project, Jerusalem]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jeremy Meadow — is a British theatrical producer and director, working mainly in theatre and comedy. He studied at the University of Exeter and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He worked for BBC radio as a producer on The Archers and at the Royal Opera House as a …   Wikipedia

  • Jeremy Begbie — Jeremy Begbie, BA, BD, Ph.D., LRAM, ARCM, FRSCM, is Thomas A. Langford Research Professor at Duke Divinity School, Duke University He was previously the Associate Director of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, as well as an Affiliated Lecturer in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Langford (Part One) — Infobox Album | Name = Langford Part One Type = Studio Album Artist = Payola$ Released = 2007 Recorded = Genre = Length = Label = EMI Producer = Jens (i.e., Bob Rock) with Jamey Koch and Eric Helmkamp Reviews = Last album = Under the Volcano… …   Wikipedia

  • Jeremy Bray (cricketer) — Infobox cricketer biography playername = Jeremy Bray female = country = Ireland fullname = Jeremy Paul Bray nickname = living = true dayofbirth = 30 monthofbirth = 11 yearofbirth = 1973 placeofbirth = Newtown, Sydney, New South Wales… …   Wikipedia

  • Western Wall Tunnel — The Western Wall Tunnel (Hebrew: מנהרת הכותל, translit.: Minheret Hakotel ) is an underground tunnel exposing the Western Wall in its full length. The tunnel is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City in… …   Wikipedia

  • Regis Philbin — Infobox actor television caption = Regis Philbin attending the Time 100 2006 gala name = Regis Philbin birthname = Regis Francis Xavier Philbin birthdate = birth date and age|1931|8|25 birthplace = New York City, New York death place = occupation …   Wikipedia

  • James Martin (Jesuit writer) — James Martin is a writer and Acting Publisher of the Jesuit magazine America [America Magazine masthead, January 21 28, 2008] . Father Martin s most well known book, My Life with the Saints (2006), was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the… …   Wikipedia

  • List of glass artists — Australia*Zoja TrofimiukEuropeBelgium*Daniël Theys *Chris MiseurCzech Republic*Jaroslava Brychtova *Stanislav Libensky (1921 2002)Estonia*Ivo Lill *Meeli KõivaGermany*Hans Godo Frabel *Thomas SchütteFinland*Timo Sarpaneva (1926 2006)Italy*Lino… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Israeli visual artists — The following is a list of Israeli artists working in visual or plastic media. A * Abed Abdi * Matanya Abramson * Leonid Afremov * Yaacov Agam * Mel Alexenberg * Nir Alon * Mordecai Ardon * Avigdor Arikha * David Ascalon * Maurice Ascalon *… …   Wikipedia

  • Dancing on Ice — For the most recently concluded series see Dancing on Ice (series 6) Dancing on Ice New 2011 logo Format Talent show Created by …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”